When I hear the old men
Telling of heroes,
Telling of great deeds
Of ancient days,
When I hear them telling,
Then I think within me
I too am one of these.
When I hear the people
Praising the great ones,
Then I know that I too
Shall be esteemed,
I too when my time comes
Shall do mightily.
No man is an island, entire of itself. Each is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thine own or of thine friend’s were. Each man’s death diminishes me, for I am involved in mankind. Therefore, send not to know for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee.
Oh! Hush thee, my baby, the night is behind us,
And black are the waters that sparkled so green.
The moon, o’er the combers, looks downward to find us,
At rest in the hollows that rustle between.
Where billow meets billow, then soft be thy pillow,
Oh weary wee flipperling, curl at thy ease!
The storm shall not wake thee, nor shark overtake thee,
Asleep in the arms of the slow-swinging seas!
A Little Poetry—This beautiful lullaby opens the story of “The White Seal” in Kipling’s popular Jungle Book.
A Little Music—Composer Eric Whitacre wrote a choral transcription of Kipling’s lullaby for a DreamWorks film that has since been cancelled. You can watch Whitacre conduct Junges Vokalensemble Hannover at YouTube. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuLDD7O29T4>